The Classified Files: To recruit or to kill?
by AustralianRanger012
Summary: Fury has his ways of getting information about people. He also has a lot of secrets. He is the Master Spy, and you'll do well to remember that. *One-shot.*CSC universe*. Takes place during chapter 9 of Shades of Red and Black, but can stand alone.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel. If I did, than Clintasha would totally be canon. And they would be in every movie that is made.**

 **A/N**

 **Belated Happy Christmas and New Year everyone! I hope that you all had a fantastic time over the holidays.**

 **This is just a little drabble/snippet that I cooked up while struggling to write the sequel to Secrets and Spies. It will became a series, but updates will happen sporadically. Some, like this one, will be able to stand alone, others will tie into specific events in specific stories. Those ones won't make sense unless that story is read first. All will be written largely, if not solely, from Fury's point-of-view.**

 **IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMEN** **T: I finally have the timeline for this universe set in stone. I know what is happening, and where I am going with things. The main change that is going to affect things is Clint's birthdate. I've decided that, in the CSC Universe, he was born on the 16th October, 1978. Shades of Red and Black, and Secrets and Spies, have thus been edited to reflect these changes. I also fixed up a few other minor details while I was at it. None of these changes will affect the plot in any way, they will just help the stories flow together better.**

 **Several of these details were pointed out to me by my sister, who is on fanfiction under the username Freeranger. She is officially my 'consultant'; and knows my universe better than I do in some ways.**

 **Anyway, all the changes in question can be found in chapters 2 and 10 in Shades of Red and Black (SRB) and chapters 1 and 8 in Secrets and Spies (Secrets). I have also made these same changes to the copies of the stories that I have posted on AO3.**

 **Also, thanks to jaguarspot who read through this and pointed out some grammar issues. They have since being fixed, but I take full responsibility for any mistakes that remain.**

 **I hope that you enjoy this little look into the mind of our favourite Master Spy!**

* * *

Our secrets are as surely revealed by what we want to seem to be, as by what we want to conceal. _Russell Lynes_

* * *

 **The Classified Files: To recruit or to kill?**

The dark-skinned, extra dark sunglasses wearing man sat down at the small table under the awning of the café. He ordered a coffee, and an iced green tea with lemon from the waiter, and then just sat there waiting. When they arrived, he paid for the drinks and sipped the coffee appreciatively. He left the tea sitting there opposite him.

Within minutes a slim, dark-haired woman had joined him at the table. Neither of them said a word for a moment, instead they just sipped their drinks and stared at each other.

The woman broke the silence.

"So, what is it you want me to do this time? Are you finally going to put out a hit on the World Security Council?"

The man almost smiled.

"No, not this time."

The woman was visibly disappointed.

"Shame, I've got people all lined up to do it as well. You just have to give the word."

The dark-skinned man nodded.

"I'll bear that in mind, Jemina."

"It's Kristy, _Mark_. I'm not Jemina anymore. She was killed years ago."

"So was Mark. The name is Nick, Nick Fury."

"I know what your name is you moron. I also know that you want something from me. You never call me unless you do. What is it now?"

Fury cracked a grin.

"You know me too well."

"I put up with working with you for over a decade. I should hope that I know you after some of the shit that we've been through together."

Kristy grinned back at him as she sipped her iced tea.

"Now, what is it that you want Nick?"

"Information."

"Well, if that's what you want, you've certainly come to the right place."

Nick rolled his eyes behind his dark glasses.

"What can you tell me about Hawkeye, smart-ass?"

Kristy blinked.

"You mean the mercenary Hawkeye? The one who uses arrows to carry out his hits?"

Nick nodded.

"That's the one. What can you tell me about him?"

"He is a ghost story hiding among the shadows of the underworld. If you double-cross him he will kill you, in the most horrible way possible, to send a message to others. I don't know much more about him, apart from the fact that he uses arrows. He is also very selective about the hits he takes."

Nick put down his cup and looked very interested.

"What do you mean by that?"

A frown creased Kristy's forehead as she thought carefully before answering Nick's question.

"Well, for a start, he doesn't do children. I haven't heard of one instance where a child was the victim of one of his arrows. Granted, I don't claim to know about even half his kills, but that sticks out with the ones that I do know about. I notice details like that because it is unusual."

Nick looked very thoughtful.

"And also very interesting. What else can you tell me about him?"

Kristy sighed.

"Not a lot. As I said, he is a ghost story. If it wasn't for the arrows, he might be mistaken for a myth by the authorities. However, he is a real person. Every person in the criminal underworld who's worth their salt knows that he is real. Solid information beyond that is lacking, however."

"We know that he is real. One of my agents has seen him; in fact, he shot him in the leg. Hawkeye still managed to run away from him. Believe me, we know that he exists."

Kristy just nodded, not in the least surprised. She'd long since given up being surprised about anything that Fury told her. Not much Fury said or did could surprise her anymore.

"What are you planning to do with him? Are you going to kill him? That might not be advisable. The last person who tried to do that, ended up very dead on the business end of an arrow. While Hawkeye, as you are aware, is still alive and kicking."

Fury sighed.

"No. We want to recruit him. He has too much potential to just kill. That would be a waste."

Kristy grinned.

"Good luck with that. Who have you given the job to?"

"My best agent."

Kristy nodded thoughtfully.

"Is he the same guy who shot him?"

"Yes."

"Oh man, he is going to have a lot of fun. I hope that your man doesn't end up dead."

"Me too."

There was a long pause.

"Why did he shoot him, if you want to recruit him? Actions like that send mixed messages."

"Change in mission parameters."

"You and your recruiting methods. Honestly, you either shoot 'em, recruit 'em, or both. Some things really don't change."

Nick raised an eyebrow.

"I seem to remember that you pointed a gun at me the first time we met, and then proceeded to pull the trigger."

"In my own defence, I was under the influence of drugs created by a mad scientist. I was hardly in a position to know what was happening."

"So was I; but that is beside the point."

They were both silent for a moment reminiscing about the past. About both the good and bad things that had happened to them. Kristy spoke first.

"Those were some good times. I miss my spy days sometimes. My life seems so boring now, in comparison to when we were stopping countries and people from being blown up by nuclear missiles. Or stopping political assassinations."

"There is always a job for you at SHIELD, if you ever feel like coming in. We see plenty of excitement."

"No thank you. Nothing will ever entice me to work for a government organisation ever again. It was bad enough having to have contact with them during the Cold War."

Fury glared.

"It was _I_ who kept in contact with them. None of them ever met you."

"Schematics. The knowledge that I was doing what the government wanted is enough for me."

Kristy finished her tea and glanced at her watch.

"Anything else to say to me before I go?"

Nick shook his head.

"No, I just wanted information on Hawkeye, but you haven't told me much that I didn't already know."

"If you already knew that much, then you are going well. He is notoriously difficult to get a read on."

"I thought that you ran the biggest information network in the Northern Hemisphere."

"I do. But that doesn't mean that I know everything. Hawkeye doesn't want people to know about him, so there isn't much available. Most of my knowledge comes from rumours."

"Rumours aren't necessarily a bad thing. There is often a kernel of truth in them."

Kristy shrugged as she picked up her handbag and stood up to go.

"In that case, I'm going. Thank you for the tea."

Fury waved her off. He, however, sat at the café table for a while longer, and considered everything that Kristy had told him very carefully.

She'd had some interesting information, some of it stuff that Fury hadn't known. It made Fury all the more curious to meet this assassin, and see what he thought about the kid for himself. Coulson seemed to think that he could convince Barton/Hawkeye to turn his life around; Fury was more pragmatic.

Still, he had been known to make a partner out of someone who had shot him on their first meeting.

Not that anyone was aware of that. Fury had never told a soul about what had gone down in that lab.

Fury fully planned on taking that information to the grave with him.

Still, Hawkeye. Fury was actually looking forward to seeing how things turned out.

It should be interesting.

* * *

 **The End**

* * *

 **As you can see, Fury has a very complicated history. On second thoughts, he is simply a very complicated character.**

 **And, to round it off, here is the title and summary of the next full length story. It is a direct sequel to Secrets and Spies, and the next story chronologically on the timeline.**

* * *

 _ **Fractured Trust**_

 _Clint Barton may have stopped running, but his problems are far from over. As his SHIELD training continues under Agent Coulson, Clint struggles to cope with the guilt of his past deeds. Phil just wishes his agent would trust him so that he could help carry the burden. Meanwhile, all is not well at SHIELD.*CSC Universe*_

* * *

 **I officially have less than two chapters left to write on Fractured Trust before it enters the beta-ring process. No idea of when I will post it yet; but rest assured that I am aiming to have it ready to post within the next couple of months.**

 **I would love to hear your thoughts on what I've written. I'm currently seriously lacking in inspiration where writing is concerned. A few reviews might help to clear my brain of the cobwebs.**

 **Thanks in advance!**


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